US claims it has rightful access to data stored on servers anywhere in the world.

A federal judge is mulling whether to hold Microsoft in contempt of court for defying orders to give the US government e-mails stored on an overseas server.

The case is the nation's first testing the Obama administration's position that any company with operations in the US must comply with valid warrants for data, even if the content is stored overseas. The US believes the e-mail on a Microsoft server in Dublin, Ireland is associated with narcotics trafficking.

Microsoft on Tuesday reiterated its position that it was talking with US District Judge Loretta Preska, the judge who sided with the Obama administration on Friday. "We will not be turning over the e-mail," Microsoft said in a statement.

The precedent-setting case became mired in a procedural muck on Friday. A contempt order could solve it, however.

Before the Labor Day weekend, the judge ordered Microsoft to cough up the data. Judge Preska originally found in the government's favor in July, but she stayed enforcing her ruling pending a Microsoft appeal. The judge decided Friday that her ruling wasn't appealable and lifted the stay. But Preska suggested that Microsoft could obtain the legal standing to have the case heard on appeal if it refused to comply and was found in contempt.

"If Microsoft refuses to comply, the Court could find Microsoft in contempt, which would be a final order subject to appellate review," the judge wrote.

Microsoft said Tuesday that "Everyone agrees this case can and will proceed to the appeals court. This is simply about finding the appropriate procedure for that to happen."

The government asked the judge to hold Microsoft in contempt.

"If Microsoft refuses to comply with the order, then the Government respectfully requests that the Court issue a contempt order that would, in turn, be a properly appealable final order, which could be stayed on consent pending appeal," the government wrote.

The judge's original July ruling endorsed the US government's position that it should be able to access the world's servers. "It is a question of control, not a question of the location of that information," Preska ruled.

That is a position that Microsoft and other companies contend is wrong. The companies maintain that the enforcement of US law stops at the US border.

Microsoft said its consumer trust is low in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations. Microsoft told Judge Preska in a filing that the "government's position in this case further erodes that trust and will ultimately erode the leadership of US technologies in the global market."

Verizon said (PDF) that a decision favoring the US would produce "dramatic conflict with foreign data protection laws." Apple and Cisco said (PDF) that the tech sector is put "at risk" of being sanctioned by foreign governments and that the US should seek cooperation with foreign nations via treaties, a position the US said was not practical.

The Justice Department said that global jurisdiction is necessary in an age when "electronic communications are used extensively by criminals of all types in the United States and abroad, from fraudsters to hackers to drug dealers, in furtherance of violations of US law."

David Kravets / The senior editor for Ars Technica. Founder of TYDN fake news site. Technologist. Political scientist. Humorist. Dad of two boys. Been doing journalism for so long I remember manual typewriters with real paper.